Evading the social media ban: Under-16s have lots of tools

Apparently, there are already ways of evading the social media ban, and some are extremely easy.

It’s not the purpose of this article to provide a hacker’s guide, but rather to alert parents that kids these days are tech-savvy.

The ban on social media comes into effect on 10 December and affects TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat, X, Facebook, Twitch, X, Reddit,  Kick, Threads and more. The rule doesn’t punish young people or their families; instead, social media companies have to stop under-16s from having accounts or risk severe fines (up to about $50 million).

Those escaping the ban include Messenger, WhatsApp, YouTube Kids, Discord, GitHub, LEGO Play, Roblox, Steam and Steam Chat, and Google Classroom.

eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant said the agency was in contact with platforms that did not currently meet the criteria but could see an influx of young users trying to circumvent the ban, such as Yubo and Bluesky.

“This is a dynamic list and will always change … some of the companies, when we made this assessment, I will say were very much on the line.”

Some of the tools for evading the social media ban

• The most obvious is to use a VPN and/or Tor Browser to pretend you are from another country. While that may work, you likely won’t be able to access your Australian account, so you will be starting all over again.
• Get an older sibling/cousin/parent who doesn’t care or/homeless person to verify for you. This is only required once. That is already happening, and the ‘boys’ report that you can buy the service outside the school grounds for a few dollars. It should work because it’s a one-off verification, and the age recognition technology is pretty hit and miss.
• Traumatise your parents until they let you in.
• Transfer ownership of the account to mum (parent-managed).
• Use YouTube Premium (paid)
• Join Huddle or Lemon8 and export your friends list.
• Set up a WhatsApp private chat group (no censorship)
• Buy a printed face mask from Temu (must be able to open your mouth)
• Generate an older you with AI and use it to sign in
• Use a proxy server
• Download your existing data, photos, messages, comments, friend lists and interactions for future use elsewhere
• An ‘unnamed’ app for bypassing social media checks (we understand this is Passepartout)
• TikTok is full of ways to bypass the social media ban.
• And many more.

What should parents do if their kids find ways of evading the social media ban?

We can only suggest vigilance and detection of any attempts by the kids to use banned social media.

What parents should do is use the Government ban as their resolve to help their kids be kids. Some will cave in, but if most don’t, then the ban achieves its objectives.

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